We’ve known for years that the dastardly Jar Jar Binks was up to something when he played dumb throughout the Star Wars prequel trilogy. After all, he’s the one who handed control over to Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.
Jar Jar has used his dark powers once again to worm his way into the hearts of Star Wars fans. Jar Jar, for some reason, isn’t the least popular Star Wars character.
Online survey and market research company Morning Consult published the results of a Star Wars-based survey on Wednesday — the results are surprising enough to maybe make you screech like a porg aboard the Millennium Falcon.
After interviewing 2,200 Star Wars fans over a three-day period, Morning Consult found that Jar Jar Binks, the infamous Gungan first introduced in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, is more popular than Jedi master Mace Windu, angst child Kylo Ren, and hero of the Rebellion Jyn Erso. Jar Jar is decidedly disliked by what has seemed like a majority of the Star Wars fandom since he flailed onto the scene in 1999’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. He’s been the butt of most Star Wars jokes ever since.
Maybe people should stop making fun of him. Maybe there’s a reason why Jar Jar is so popular. Maybe Jar Jar Binks is — wait for it — a Sith Lord.
Obviously, Jar Jar being a Sith Lord is the only reasonable explanation for him being just 1 percent less popular than Rey and 5 percent more popular than the perfect purple lightsaber-wielding Mace Windu.
37 percent of people had a positive view of Jar Jar Binks. What is this Dark side madness?
Fans have theorized for a long time that Jar Jar might have been the mastermind behind the fall of the Republic. People have even posited that he really is a full-on Sith Lord and that his village idiot routine is just that — a routine.
Qui-Gon Jinn actor Liam Neeson even made a joke during the 2017 Star Wars Celebration about Jar Jar falling to the Dark side. Maybe that’s what Star Wars: The Last Jedi is really about: Rey falling to the Dark side after failing to shake off Jar Jar’s offer.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi premieres in theaters on December 15. Check out all of Inverse’s coverage on the film right here.
